Study challenges belief crabs don’t feel the pinch

The food industry is being asked to reconsider how they treat crustaceans after Belfast researchers found evidence that crabs are likely to feel pain.

Bob Elwood of Queen’s University said billions of crustaceans are caught or reared in aquaculture for the food industry, but they get little or no protection because of a common belief that they do not experience pain.

While restaurant practices of boiling lobsters alive and the killing of crabs are the subject of animal welfare concerns, some scientists say incorrect assumptions are made about the creatures’ nervous systems.